Juan Fernando del Granado Cosío (born 26 March 1953) is a Bolivian
human-rights lawyer and politician, mayor of La Paz (2000–2010) and
founder of the Movement without Fear (Movimiento Sin Miedo, MSM), a
progressive political party. On November 11, 2013, he officially
announced his candidacy for president of Bolivia for the 2014
election.[1]
He is known as John the Fearless (“Juan Sin Miedo”) for achieving
in 1993 the first-ever successful prosecution of a Latin American
dictator in the ordinary courts for crimes committed in office.[2]
Bolivia’s Supreme Court sentenced Gen. Luis García Meza Tejada, the
"cocaine dictator," to 30 years in jail without parole or remission
for murder, theft, fraud and subverting the constitution. Despite its
brevity, Garcia Meza's rule became notorious for its links to the
cocaine trade and its use of paramilitary squads run by fascist
mercenaries from Italy, Germany, France, Chile and Argentina. At least
50 people died, over 20 disappeared and thousands were arrested,
imprisoned and tortured before it fell to a coup by dissident officers
in August 1981. The best-known of his foreign aides was the Nazi war
criminal Klaus Barbie, who was extradited to France in 1983, where he
died in jail. As a prosecutor, del Granado was demonstrably fearless
in the pursuit of justice, and shrugged off continual death threats.
He is a relative of Bolivian poet Javier del Granado. His wife, Miriam
Marcela Revollo Quiroga, serves as an MSM deputy to the Plurinational
Legislative Assembly.
Biography[edit]
Juan del Granado received a law degree at the Universidad Mayor de San
Andrés (UMSA) in La Paz. As a law student, he was among the founders
of the Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria (MIR). He directed the
Committee Interfacultativo UMSA, a body that defended the university's
autonomy during the brutal dictatorship of Col. Hugo Banzer. Despite a
climate of harsh political repression, he completed his studies and
received his law degree in 1975. He continued his political activities
and associations in North Potosi, where from 1975 to 1976 he worked as
a journalist for Radio La Voz del Minero (The Miner's Voice Radio) and
served as legal counsel to the Catavi and 20th-century mining unions.
Toward the end of the corruption- and violence-plagued Banzer
dictatorship, del Granado was imprisoned and then exiled. In 1980,
when he was able to return to La Paz, he served as legal counsel to
the Central Obrera Boliviana (COB) and several unions and social
organizations. He was again driven into exile during the brutal
"narco-dictatorship" of Gen. Luis García Meza Tejada (1980–81).
In 1984, he undertook the prosecution of Meza Tejada, a process that
would last more than nearly a decade. On 21 April 1993, Bolivia’s
Supreme Court found Meza Tejada guilty of murder, theft, fraud and
subverting the constitution, and sentenced him to 30 years in prison.
Sixteen members of his Cabinet and 42 paramilitary and civilian
collaborators were also tried, eleven in absentia. Six were acquitted
and the others were given sentences up to 30 years. President Jaime
Paz Zamora said the verdict symbolized the "recovery of the country's
dignity and the strengthening of the democratic system." "It is not
only a question of punishing those responsible for crimes but of
ending political actions based on murder, assault and theft," said del
Granado. Gen. Luis García Meza Tejada had staged a coup on July 17,
1980 with the backing of cocaine traffickers, Nazi war criminal Klaus
Barbie and foreign mercenaries, who killed, tortured and persecuted
labor and political leaders and journalists. They had overthrown a
democratically elected government, dissolved Congress and outlawed
political parties.
In 1993, del Granado was elected to Congress as a member of the party
Movimiento Bolivia Libre. As a congressman, he served as the Chairman
of the Human Rights Committee, where he was a tireless voice in
defense of human rights. He also served on the Constitutional
Committee, where he called for the enactment of laws which prompted
the creation of Bolivia’s Ombudsman, the Constitutional Court and
the Judicial Council.
He has been a member of the Andean Commission of Jurists since 1996.
He has published several books, analyses and reports on government
transparency and has received several awards from human rights
institutions and civil society.
In 1999, he founded the Movement without Fear (Movimiento Sin Miedo);
the party won La Paz's municipal elections that year. A tireless
advocate of accountability and oversight, mayor del Granado cleaned up
the city government and fought corruption. He also implemented major
projects in the city. In 2004, he cruised to re-election, and his
supporters won six of the eleven city council seats.
Notes[edit]

Marcela López Levy, Bolivia: the background, the issues, the people
p. 63 (2001).
Arellano, César (8 October 2014). "Por un modelo de economía
plural". Los Tiempos. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016.
Retrieved 22 May